So far, only solar, wind and pumped storage power projects are available. But, now Chandrababu Naidu government is looking for new technology in the power sector by setting up battery storage power projects. The Center has allowed them to be set up in AP with a storage capacity of 1,000 megawatts.
As the Central Government will provide the Viability Gap Fund, the unit cost for Andhra Pradesh will also be reduced. Battery storage power projects will be set up in four places in the state under the auspices of the National Hydro Power Corporation. In this regard, NHPC will soon call tenders and enter into a power sale agreement with the selected companies.
At the same time, it will enter into an electricity purchase agreement with the DISCOMs. Officials say that these projects will be available within a year and a half. It is estimated that these will cost Rs. 2.6 crore per megawatt hour at the current prices. Based on this calculation, the 2000 megawatt-hour battery storage project to be set up in the state will cost Rs. 5200 crore.
The Center has approved the capacity of this project as 1,000 megawatts. With two cycles of 2 hours each, a total of 2000 megawatt-hours of electricity storage capacity will be available. Through this project, the government hopes to store electricity for use for two hours each during the morning and evening hours when demand is highest.
Officials say that this will reduce the burden of buying electricity at a high price. Currently, during peak demand hours, discoms are buying a maximum of Rs. 10 per unit. A plan has been made to use the stored electricity at that time. Thus, it is estimated that the unit will be available for Rs. 5.30 per unit, including the input electricity. Discoms will provide the input electricity required for these projects.
So far, there are such projects in countries like Australia and the USA. A small amount has also been set up in Gujarat. The government has taken up an experimental scheme to install solar panels on houses in Kuppam and utilize the electricity generated by them.
A 100 MW battery storage project will be set up to store the excess current generated there. A 100 MW project has been proposed near Godavari Gas Private Limited in Godavari districts. This will solve the low-voltage problem that arises here from time to time.